School Climate Resources

School Climate

The beliefs and the "Inside-Out Approach" of Community Matters are in alignment with what numerous educational researchers have found: that positive school climate is a fundamental prerequisite for school safety, academic excellence and optimal social-emotional development. Increasingly, state and federal policy-makers are developing imperatives and mandates aimed at improving school climate to achieve better educational outcomes. The following is a sample of online resources and research on how to build and strengthen school climate:

Restorative Practices

For more than a decade many schools have relied heavily on a zero tolerance approach to guide their discipline policies and practices. Although well intended, this methodology has been primarily unsuccessful in reducing school violence and helping students feel safe, welcome and included. Additionally, it has contributed to numerous unintended consequences such as significant increases in suspensions and expulsions, and decreases in attendance and academic achievement.

All across America, school officials are waking up to the power and potential for correcting behavior and decreasing suspensions through the use of Restorative Justice (RJ) and Restorative Practices (RP). RP/RJ is an emerging approach to justice that focuses on the power of relationships for developing social and civic responsibility, sharing accountability, and correcting harm. When used in school settings as a preventative action, it creates an atmosphere of “connect and correct” instead of “catch and punish”.

Community Matters offers a full spectrum of RP and RJ consulting services to assist with discipline policy updates and improvements, as well as administration and staff trainings to help institute RP and RJ practices into school policies and practices. Learn more here or contact us at 707-823-6159 to learn how we can help you.

Bystander Education

Community Matters is very pleased to support the efforts of MacKenzie Bezos, creator of the Bystander Revolution campaign. More and more people are recognizing that the best solution for preventing and stopping bullying is for each one of us to express the courage to speak up and support those who are targeted and to challenge those who are bullying to stop what they are doing and to change their behavior. Together, by raising our voices and speaking up, we can create an "each one, reach one" social tipping point and eradicate meanness and intolerance from our schools and communities.

Bystander Revolution was founded by author and parent MacKenzie Bezos to create a source of direct, peer-to-peer advice about practical things individuals can do to help defuse bullying. The ultimate goal is the discussion and spread of simple habits of leadership, kindness, and inclusion. The site launched in April of 2014 with unscripted seed content from dozens of passionate students, leaders and celebrities— more than three hundred 1-2 minute videos for a wide variety of problems and situations, each with a focus on simple but powerful actions bystanders can take to help.

Suspension Cost & Loss Calculator

This easy-to-use online tool shows how much time and money your school or district spends processing suspensions, and calculates the resulting revenues lost. It goes on to show, based on independent research, how much you could recover as a result of bringing Safe School Ambassadors to your campus.

Our book: Safe School Ambassadors: Harnessing Student Power to Stop Bullying and Violence

Our book – for school administrators, counselors, teachers, parents and youth organization leaders – challenges conventional “outside-in” thinking and makes the case for a complementary “inside-out” approach that taps the power of students to change the social norms that permit bullying and violence to occur. Contains a wealth of data and a roadmap schools can use to empower students with tools to stop a broad spectrum of mistreatment and improve school climate.

Funding Toolkit

Budget cuts in education constrain many schools from implementing school climate improvement programs, and external funding sources need to be identified, solicited and nurtured. New routes must be used to acquire adequate funding for services and programs that public funding used to cover. This Guide outlines a step-by-step process for identifying and securing funding from local and regional organizations, as well as tools like planning checklists, template letters to potential funders, press releases, and more.

School Climate Surveys

Climate surveys allow school, district and other educational leaders to gain insight into the social-emotional climate of a school. Separate surveys are often available for students, school staff, and parents.

As part of our Whole School Climate 360 Assessment, CM performs in-depth surveying of students and staff to establish benchmarks and identify areas for improvement that are specific to the needs of your district, including:

Student behavior and engagement

Staff/faculty communication

Other internal and external factors that influence the climate and performance of your schools.

We also recommend the following resources for school climate surveys to help you acquire the data needed to successfully assess your school’s climate, and assist you in successful planning and improvement:

Safe & Supportive Schools: U.S. Department of Education

The Safe & Supportive Schools Technical Assistance Center, funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Healthy Students, works to address bullying, harassment, violence, substance abuse, and other impediments to learning. The Center provides training, support, research and other resources to state-level Safe & Supportive Schools Program grantees, as well as state and district administrators, teachers, support staff, communities, families and students. Click here to visit the Center’s website.

StopBullying.gov Website

This comprehensive site features resources for educators, families and students. Includes help with understanding bullying and how to respond, as well as a compendium of state policies and laws related to bullying.Visit the Stop Bullying website.

Call 707-823-6159 to schedule a no-cost preliminary school climate assessment